Chris Freind: A bridge too far ... from common sense

Fourteen: Length in feet of the Gradyville Road Bridge in Newtown, Delaware County, closed a year ago due to its deteriorating condition.

Two: Years — the time it will take to reopen that bridge, if we’re lucky.

Zero: The motivation level of PennDOT, Newtown’s elected officials and all the faceless bureaucrats to replace the bridge expeditiously.

Advertisement

That appalling lack of concern will continue to significantly, and needlessly, inconvenience drivers and residents — aka “taxpayers” — for yet another year.

It’s enough to make you jump off a bridge.

Those who never heard of Gradyville Road might ask, “How does this affect me?”

The answer is simple: The Gradyville Bridge fiasco is not an isolated incident, but one representative of what’s wrong across America. Once upon a time, our government tackled problems head-on with speed and efficiency, from building an extensive interstate highway system to landing a man on the moon.

But now, it moves like a fat sloth, an ambitionless creature whose girth is matched only by its insatiable appetite to feed at the public trough.

Unfortunately, far too many people are content to either accept such bureaucratic malaise as the cost of doing business, or throw up their arms in disgust, complaining amongst themselves that “nothing works anymore” and “you can’t fight city hall” — but making no attempt to actually change things.

Closing bridges for indefinite periods of time, with no imperative to quickly alleviate the added congestion and safety issues on alternate roads — not to mention the negative impact on local businesses — is expected in banana republics. But it shouldn’t be par for the course here.

So what is taking so long? There are two possibilities:

1. Lack of money. Government at all levels has refused to act like responsible families who live within their means and tighten their belts in difficult times. Instead, frivolous spending by government officials has become the rule. Now, with coffers low, and in some cases, empty — despite ever-increasing taxes and fees — more and more basic services and core functions of government are falling by the wayside.

In Pennsylvania, untold billions are squandered each year on pork-barrel projects and deals that reward big campaign donors, yet transportation funding to fix the thousands of dangerous bridges and roads remains mired in the morass of Harrisburg. But rather than prioritize spending and cut the waste as a true leader would do, Gov. Corbett proposes to raise gas taxes so astronomically that Pennsylvanians would pay the highest — yes, highest — gas taxes in the nation.

2. Bloated government bureaucracy. Interestingly, a call to Newtown Township and a check of its website yielded an unexpected answer: The bridge delay is apparently not due to lack of finances. That’s all the more damning, an indictment of how totally unresponsive government has become.

Originally, the bridge was to reopen this spring. Yet more and more issues keep arising, causing endless delays. Ever-changing PennDOT plans, construction easements, the addition of sewer pipes, and even more revised plans. And they’re still months away from the bidding process, let alone awarding contracts and commencing construction — proof positive that rather than speedily rectifying the problem, government will leisurely “cross that bridge” when it comes to it.

And that is unacceptable.

Is this making too big a deal about “just a local bridge?” Absolutely not, because if that’s the mentality, where does it end? That it’s OK to accept bureaucracy at its worst? That we should cede our hard-earned money to the government with no expectation of a return? And what does it say about the competence of our government officials if they can’t even replace a 14-foot bridge with all the money they need in less than two years? Doesn’t exactly bode well for the timely completion of any really big project, does it?

Painful as it is, there is a simple litmus test we can all use to judge our progress: Would China do it faster and better? Would China still be rebuilding the World Trade Center a staggering 12 years after the 9/11 attacks? Not a chance. Would China ground its entire space program for years because of an accident in an inherently risky endeavor? Nope.

And would China allow its roads and bridges — the lifeblood of any growing economy — to sit idle for years because of indecisiveness and lack of vision? No. That’s why they are growing and we are not. And before anyone yells, “Go Move to China,” remember one thing.

The Chinese are using the playbook that America invented but has long since abandoned.

Gradyville Road has become a “bridge too far” from common sense. It’s time to burn that bridge of bureaucracy and consider it water over the dam.

Otherwise, we better learn to walk on water.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist and commentator. He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com.